


In time do you forget?

by LethalMinx



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 01:26:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18325892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LethalMinx/pseuds/LethalMinx
Summary: But don’t you know your sorrow can be your closest friend?The years were as kind to Ignis’ face just as they were unkind to his heart. It’s been ten years and King Noctis finally emerged from the Astrals’ cradle; he was older, sagacious, and refined with his sense of duty cloaking him like a robe. It’s been a week since he’s been back, and Ignis knew that things wouldn’t quite be the same between them. It was easier before – there was no Noctis to behold, to converse with, to confide in, to protect in all that time that the dawn was slowly overcome by perpetual night. Ignis could laugh, dance, and go about his day with the others that he wooed into his bed without the haunting wraith of Noctis’ absence. Some days hurt more than others, but ten years indeed does a lot more to a person than age.





	In time do you forget?

Ignis was normally a very prompt man who adhered closely to his schedule. After Noctis’ departure, Gladio, Prompto, and himself became bounty hunters for Hammerhead. As the time went on, the three of them did hunts less and less together, figuring they could make more gil by doing them separately than together. In time, hunts weren’t the only thing they weren’t doing together anymore; the distance between them was so unnoticeably gradual. In time, hindsight kicked in and they realized their souls were miles apart and Noctis was the adhesive that kept them together. None of them really seemed to be bothered by it, though there was always a forlorn air of sorrow whenever they’d meet. That had all changed when Noctis showed up – they were eating at the diner again, laughing and talking about all the adventures they went on, listened to the music they’d enjoy in the Regalia together during adventures of old, and Prompto brought in a box of pictures and souvenirs he had stashed away. They laughed through the nights like the daemons didn’t exist, that there was no one around for miles, nor that the Starscourge hadn’t swallowed up the stars. They were young again… except for the infected splinter jutting between Noctis and Ignis.

Like the eyes playing tricks, there was always something that faded the instant it was given notice. Ignis left the table to take a few steps far away from their camp. Noctis watched him leave and trailed behind him a few moments later.

“Hey,” Ignis’ ears weren’t quite used to the deeper tone of Noct’s aged voice quite yet.

“Hey to you as well.” Ignis flashed a small smile.

Noct felt the pain of guilt hit him every time he saw Ignis’ face; the skin that was soft and perfect now bore claw mark-etched ridges. He knew Ignis’ wounds were never healed, and he knew that his sight would never return, but he was hoping that maybe a miracle would have happened in his absence, but this was just affirmation that time does not, in fact, heal all wounds.

As if Ignis’ sight was exchanged for the ability to read minds, he observed flatly, “If you’re wondering about my sight, I unfortunately never did get it back.” He paused. “I get around quite fine though. It’s hard to explain, but I feel that I can see much better now than I did before. I can feel the ground tremble, I can hear daemons from a long way away. It’s not so bad anymore. Very effective in combat, if I do say so myself.”

Noctis didn’t say anything; instead he stood there like a stump.

“Ignis… why did you do something so--”

“… _Foolish_?” Ignis finished. “Because if there was _any_ opportunity, _any_ possibility that you did not have to pay the bloodprice, there was no hesitation. I would exchange my life for yours; Insomnia needs its King, it doesn’t need its right hand.” He felt like there was more that he should say, but the words just wouldn’t come.

“Iggy…” And then a hand lightly brushed along Ignis’ face as his opaque glasses were removed.

“Noct, please don’t. It’s unsightly,” He felt for Noctis’ hand to retrieve his glasses.

“I want to see you. Let me see.”

Ignis’ breath escaped him. The emotions he kept bottled up all this time were raging against the birdcage of his ribs, desperate for any way out. Noctis gazed upon his face that was marred on the left eye, dragging like claw marks down his cheek. He ran his hands gently over the topography of his face, every inch memorized, like trying to read braille and hoping that he could translate thoughts into words. Alas, the words never came, and instead coursed down his face in a steady stream of quiet tears. Ignis lightly grasped Noctis’ wrist to pull it away from his face, but Noct fought him. Then came the other hand, and both cradled the corner of his jaw on both sides. Noctis beheld the deep, milky blindness and wished desperately that Ignis could see him – see the man he became, the man that Ignis helped shape and form. All there was, was a vain desire to undo what was done.

“I would rather not have been born at all if that meant that you, and Gladio, and Prompto could live in peace,” Noct’s voice started to tremble and his lower lip quivered.

“No, Noct… you are the Chosen King that was born to defeat this scourge. You will banish the dark and bring forth the light,” Ignis inhaled to keep his voice steady, though his heartbeat and trembling body betrayed that.

“But what good am I – what kind of _Savior King_ am I if I can’t even protect the ones that I love?” The tremble in Noct’s voice grew thicker now.

“We swore an oath to guard you with our lives – through all of its trials and tribulations, Highness. We swore it; we will live by it, and if need be, die by it. The conditions are not circumstantial. We protect you as royal retainers, but we stand by you as brothers.”

At these words, the dam in Noct’s resolve had burst open and the tears came hard and fast. All the pain and suffering endured by his friends in his decade-long absence were now coming to him all at once. Ignis wrapped an arm around his shoulder and guided him to the soft grass, partly for Noct’s sake of comfort, but mostly because Ignis thought his knees were going to buckle from the pain of Noct’s anguish. Noct hugged his knees, his head buried in them, and Ignis pulled Noct into himself. Noct didn’t fight his embrace and welcomed the love and light of companionship. The sobs started to ease now, the tears slowly, the hiccups and spasms spaced apart. Noctis lifted his head and gazed forward into the horizon then trailed his eyes upwards towards the stars and moon.  
  
“Has it… _really_ been this dark for ten years?” Noctis exhaled in some disbelief, recalling better days of bright sunlight in Lestallum, in Galdin Quay, in Altissia, in Insomnia… all of these places where the sun shone in glory, and then steadily, _painfully_ drowning in darkness.

“Mm. It has. Though it wasn’t a sudden drop of nightfall; the nights got longer and the days shorter, until one day…” the sentence trailed off.

Noctis understood. In an instant, Noct’s fortitude returned, his eyes filled with purpose, his jaw clenched with grit. “Then I will have to destroy it. There’s nothing else to be done.”

Ignis smiled proudly. _This_ was the man he knew would come to life; that buried underneath childish puerility slept a dormant king that bided his time, waiting for his ascension.

“Iggy… will you stay with me? Just one more time?”

Ignis lifted his chin as a proud smile curved along his mouth.

“Always.”

* * *

 

_"In time do you forget;_  
_What you always remembered._  
_Whatever made you feel alone_  
_Has gone already."_

**Author's Note:**

> I was a bit inspired by "In Time Do You Forget?" by Mew (which is a fantastic band and a fantastic song), so I decided to use that to sort of set the pulse. Might make this multi chapter, might not. The feelings were just swelling from the anguish Ignis must have felt all those years without his beloved. Thanks for reading <3 <3 <3


End file.
